By way of example, conventional lead-acid batteries are provided with at least two mutually opposing plate-shaped electrodes, which are either coated with PbO.sub.2 gel, or modelled in the form of two lead plates one of whose plate surfaces is converted to PbO.sub.2 after a Plante coating. In both cases, the reactive surface of the electrode corresponds to the plate surface and is therefore restricted to the dimensions of the latter. Furthermore, conventional lead-acid batteries have only limited mechanical stability on account of the plate-shaped design of the electrodes. While PbO.sub.2 gel electrochemical batteries do supply high currents, they have a short service life. While in contrast, stationary batteries with Plante-coated electrodes do have a long service life, they cannot supply high currents because the reactive surface layer is small in relation to the complete electrode. Accordingly, the latter have a relatively high volume and a relatively high weight in relation to their power yield.
On these grounds, a great many attempts have been made to enlarge the surface area of the electrodes, as is to be seen, for example, from German Patents DE 42 01 420 A1, DE 26 39 881 A1 and DE-PS 146 063. While an enlargement of the surface is provided in all cases by means of sometimes relatively complicated design and manufacturing measures, there still remain the disadvantages of restricted mechanical stability and compared with the power yield, a relatively high volume and weight.